“Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.”

― Adam Smith

1580 Pierre Vernier, French mathematician, inventor of the vernier caliper used for taking accurate measurements

1621 Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Dutch painter

1808 James Nasmyth, Scottish engineer and inventor of the steam hammer

1824 Georg Goltermann, German cellist and composer. Rêverie op. 54, Nr. 3, and Capriccio for cello and piano, and Serenade for Four Cellos Op. 119, No. 2

1848 Gustave Caillebotte, French painter

1871 Orville Wright, American inventor who along with his brother, Wilbur, invented, built, and made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft.

1902 Ogden Nash, American poet and writer.

1906 Philo T. Farnsworth, American inventor (created electronic television, video camera tube)

1919 Malcolm Forbes, American publisher and the head of Forbes Magazine.

1921 Gene Roddenberry, American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of Star Trek

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